Crew memoirs among highlights in Citadel professor’s combat bomber book

Matterhorn: The operational history of the U.S. XX Bomber Command from India to China, 1944-45

Matterhorn: The operational history of the XX (20th) Bomber Command and its combat missions from India and China in 1944 and 1945 traces the development of the Boeing B-29 Superfortress program. The book, written by a professor of political science at The Citadel, explores plans by the Allied Forces of World War II to stage long-range bombers through China in order to strike Japan’s strategic industries. Matterhorn was written by Terry Mays, Ph.D., who has been teaching at The Citadel since 1992.

Matterhorn examines the 49 combat missions flown by the XX Bomber Command from India and China, producing the first detailed history of the B-29 campaign flown from these countries. The book is written almost exclusively from primary source material including original World War II documents, crew member memoirs, and personal interviews. Special sections within the book examine issues related to flying across the aerial military supply route between India and China known as “the hump”; Gen. Curtis LeMay’s reorganization of B-29 operations; and the night fighter defense of the B-29 forward airfields in China.